MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Conflict in Middle East could escalate after latest Israeli attacks

Iran said it will respond to any attack by Israel.

Israeli forces attacked Iranian Air Force positions in Isfahan, in the center of the country in retaliation for last weekend's bombardment with unmanned explosives and missiles, it was reported early Friday. Other hits were recorded in the As-Suwayda governorate in southern Syria, the Baghdad area, and the Babil governorate in Iraq.

The blasts came hours after Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told CNN that his country's response would be “immediate and at the highest level” and that “if the Israeli regime commits the grave mistake once again, our response will be decisive, final and regrettable for them.”

The IRNA news agency said that air defenses had been activated in several parts of Iran and that Israel had also attacked military airfields and a radar site in Syria and Iraq. According to Iran's Fars news agency and other local media, an explosion was heard in Qahjavarestan, east of Isfahan and near Isfahan International Airport, after which air defenses were activated in the area in response to small drones, as well as in Tabriz in northwestern Iran after a suspicious object was sighted in the air. Commercial flights to Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz were suspended as of Friday morning. Iran's Civilian Space Program spokesman Hossein Dalirian wrote on X that several drones had been shot down over the city of Isfahan. Iranian television later said three drones had been destroyed over the city.

Syrian reports Friday morning indicated that airstrikes had also targeted military installations in the southern provinces of As-Suwayda and Daraa. According to local news site As-Suwayda24, the strikes targeted radar installations between Qarda and Izraa in Daraa. The Syrian Defense Ministry confirmed the airstrike at around 3 am local time against air defense facilities in the south of the country caused some “material damage.”

Tel Aviv had vowed to respond to Saturday's hostilities, which followed an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building near the Iranian embassy in Damascus, killing Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander in charge of operations in Syria and Lebanon.

US sources said Washington had been tipped in advance and that Israel was not targeting nuclear facilities. Bloomberg News said Israeli officials had notified the US on Thursday that they planned to launch an attack in the next 24-48 hours.